Alembic
Alembic was founded in 1969 and is a manufacturer of high-end electric basses, guitars and preamps. Ron and Susan Wickersham founded
Alembic, Inc. in 1969. Originally, it was conceived as a consulting firm that worked closely with the Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and other bands to help improve the quality of their sound systems and
live recordings. Rick Turner also joined the company in that first year, becoming a shareholder in 1970.
Ron Wickersham and Rick Turner designed low-impedance pickups and electronics with greater bandwidth than the high-impedance pickups
typical in electric guitars and basses of the time. To boost the low output of these pickups, Wickersham designed an active onboard
preamp. In 1969, the first active electronics designed by Alembic were installed in instruments owned by Phil Lesh, Jack Casady,
Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia. These were the first true active electronics to be installed in musical instruments.
Alembic became quite busy installing these new active electronics in players' guitars and basses. Instruments modified with these
electronics were also often retrofitted with new necks and hardware. This work led the company to begin producing its own line of
instruments, incorporating the improvements the company developed during this period. The first Alembic instrument, serial number
72-01, was a bass made for Jack Casady, then a member of Jefferson Airplane. This bass incorporated a massive electronics suite,
with super-filtering capability, and had pickups mounted on brass tubing so that their position could be adjusted.
By 1973 Alembic was established as the instrument-maker of choice amongst many US west coast bands, including the Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and others. Stanley Clarke acquired his first Alembic in 1973. Other early
Alembic players included Lamar Williams of The Allman Brothers Band and Tom Fowler of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
Greg Lake (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) played a number of Alembics, including an eight string bass.
As a result of such high-profile users, Alembic's fame soon spread.
By the late 70's, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin had also converted to Alembic (from Fender) and drove the development of the
Triple Omega body shape. Jones can be seen using both 4 and 8 string Alembics in the Knebworth concert on the Led Zeppelin DVD.
Jones also used his 8 string on the song Achilles Last Stand, from the 1976 Led Zeppelin album, Presence.
Chuck Panozzo of Styx used Alembic bass guitars during Styx's 1979 to 1984 heyday. Their use in heavy rock continued into the 80's,
with both Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted of Metallica playing Alembics at some point in their respective careers.
Funk players were quick to pick up on Stanley Clarke's percussive playing style, to which the clear, extended high end response of
the Alembic electronics was well suited. Legendary funk bassist Louis Johnson can be heard playing an Alembic Series 1 on classic
tracks by the The Brothers Johnson. Lequient Jobe (Rose Royce), Jermaine Jackson (The Jacksons), Rodney Skeet Curtis
(Parliament-Funkadelic) and Wyzard (Mother’s Finest) also played Series 1s. Brown Mark played an Alembic Spoiler on several hits
recorded by Prince.